A display system made of stacked and suspended wooden boxes forms a signature feature in this new Blue Bottle cafe, which occupies part of a 1920s brick building in downtown San Francisco.
Situated in the city's South of Market district, the cafe sits within a nearly century-old brick structure that once housed a Kohler plumbing supply warehouse. The coffeeshop occupies a storefront space that encompasses 1,200 square feet (111 square metres).
For the adaptive reuse project, the team sought to create a light-filled interior with a minimalist aesthetic. Preserving the building's original elements was also a guiding concern.
"The design reveals the site's inherent beauty by stripping away the frivolous and unnecessary, elevating the most essential attributes of the architecture, such as original brick walls and wood support columns, and enhancing the visible connection to the bustling SoMa streets," said Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, an architecture firm with six offices around the US.
A defining feature is a wooden shelving system that stretches across the cafe. The system consists of different sized "floating boxes" that either hang from the ceiling or are combined to form full-height shelving units.
"Bags of coffee and serveware available for purchase are nestled within the framework, creating an eye-catching merchandise display," the studio said.
The service counter was fabricated from stainless steel and birch plywood. An under-the-counter Mavam espresso machine helps enables better eye contact between baristas and customers.
from dezeen